Friday, 13 January 2017

Archetypes & Hero's Journey - The Matrix

The Matrix ,(1999), Directed by ' Lana and Lily Wachowski' is a sci-fi film that is based around a main character Neo, played by 'Keanu Reeves' . In the matrix the world that we live at the moment, is a computer simulated programme that we are put into when we are born. This changes our perception of the real world which is being hidden by the matrix due to it being years in the future and pretty much all of civilisation has been destroyed. Neo is taken on by Morpheus, Laurence Fishburne' and his team as Neo is seen as the 'chosen one'. He then has to try and help the team destroy the matrix and revel the real world behind it.

Throughout the film we can see different character fitting different archetypes. These are the roles of the character and how they help to build the story and fit into it.

The first archetype we see if Neo who is clearly the hero of the story. The story follows Neo and how he is told about the matrix and then comes to master it. When first found by Morpheus and his team we see that they see Neo as 'the chosen one', a person who will be able to destroy the Matrix.
The shadow of the film is the sentinel program and the agents. These are programs from the future that act almost as a computer virus being able to jump in and out of the Matrix and into any role or person who is within the Matrix. They act as protectors for the Matrix but as we find out early on the Matrix is seen to be the villain, making the sentinels and the agents to be the shadow, or the bad guy, in other terms.

The Herald of the story is an online chat room in which Neo meets Morpheus and this is where everything starts and where Neo is discovered for his talents. Neo is a credited hacker who has committed cyber crimes so in these hidden online chat rooms he is discovered by Morpheus who then talks Neo into arranging to meet him after saving him from his first encounter with Agents.

The threshold guardian is when Neo is being trained to manipulate the Matrix to make him stronger and faster, as it is only a computer programme it means that he is not restricted to the limitations of the real world. Learning to manipulate this is the guardian from Neo entering one world to the other and being able to master it.

The Trickster of the story is the character Cypher. We can see him plotting behind the scenes against Morpheus' group, even though Cypher is within the group. Cypher makes a deal with the agents to provide them with Morpheus as he knows information that they wanted. In return Cypher is told he can enter back into the Matrix as a rich person with no prior memory to what had previously happened involving Morpheus and his team.

The obvious mentor of this film is Morpheus. Morpheus teaches Neo about the Matrix and then trains him on how to master it. He also takes Neo under his wing as he see's Neo as the chosen one. Morpheus has complete faith in Neo, as he risks his life to save Neo's, sacrificing himself to the agents as he knows he cannot beat them in hand to hand combat, so Neo can get away.

The allies of the story are Morpheus' team members, Switch, Tank, Mouse, Dozer and Apoc. Throughout the film we see that these people are devoted members to Morpheus' team and they do their best to assist Morpheus and in hand Neo as he is seen to be the 'chosen one'.

The mother figure of the story is 'The Orical' she is an old, wise woman who can seemingly predict the future, she knows what actions are going to unfold and warns Neo that there will be a time that it is either him or Morpheus who will be killed. This then takes later in the film and we can see the truth behind the Orical's prediction.

The father is again Morpheus. He takes Neo under his wing, teaches him, and protects him, like a father figure would. From the first time that they meet Morpheus has complete and utter faith in Neo and will do anything to protect him.
The Child of this film is Mouse. His is the youngest member of Morpheus group and you can tell just by the way he looks, looking significantly younger then any other member of the team. He is also very shy and timid, which is where he got the name 'Mouse' from.

The Maiden of this story and also possible the Herald is Trinity. Trinity is seemed to be Morpheus' right hand woman as she is very skilled within the Matrix. Not only that but we can see her help to train Neo and also protect him. Along with that we can see attraction building between Neo and Trinity, to a point where they actually kiss near the end of the film.